TN farmers go bizarre at Jantar Mantar
A month ago, they brought skulls, ostensibly of their brethren who committed suicide, to Delhi. A little over a week ago, some stripped naked in front of the Prime Minister’s office. And on Tuesday, one of them dressed up as PM Narendra Modi and mock-flogged the others.
The demonstrations are part of an unwavering protest by Tamil farmers camping in the Capital to press for a waiver of their farm loans after a drought wiped out their harvest last year.
On Wednesday, they decided to hold back on their plans to take their demonstrations to another level — they planned to drink urine on Thursday and have human excreta the day after — after the government sought time to work on their demands.
The farmers met Pon Radhakrishnan, minister of state for road transport and highways and the only BJP MP from Tamil Nadu, and he has promised to take up their issues with finance minister Arun Jaitley and try to come up with a solution by May 15, they said.
According to P Ayyakkannu, who led the farmers’ delegation to Radhakrishnan, the minister has assured that debt recovery and repayment will halt for a year.
The farmers, however, have refused to leave until they get the promises in a written and signed document.
“If they give us the letter, we will leave on Saturday, otherwise we will continue our fight,” said Ayyakkannu.
The Tamil Nadu government separately announced on Wednesday that all its ministers will visit drought-hit regions and monitor the relief measures.
“By ignoring us, it is like Modi is whipping us and trying to beat us out of Delhi… Sometimes I think if we get arrested it might be better. Jail would be better than this,” Ayyakkannu, who is the state president of the National South-Indian Rivers Linking Farmers’ Association said on Tuesday, after the flogging.
The farmers have been in Delhi for 37 days.
They have, in addition to the loan waiver, sought revised drought packages that would allow them to buy seeds for the next harvest cycle and also compensate their losses.